Safe and affordable daycare remains elusive

It's no secret that in Quebec, parents pay the lowest child care fees in Canada, $154 per month for a full-time space. A young girl whispers her name in the ear of Quebec Premier Pauline Marois at a daycare, Nov. 12, 2012 in Montreal. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Child care has been in the news this month, and not always for the best of reasons.

In Ontario, the Ombudsman's office has a new investigation underway into how the province responds to public concerns about unlicensed daycare providers, following the death of a toddler at an unlicensed centre in Vaughan.

And on Monday police in Kitchener announced the arrest of a former home daycare operator, who was charged in the poisoning of two children.

Here are some numbers on early childhood care and education in Canada.

Demographics

Number of children, 0-4 years old on July 1, 2012: 1,928,762.

Number of children, 0-5 years with mothers in the labour force, 2009: 1,268,200.

Child-care spaces

Per cent of children 0-5 years for whom there was a regulated centre-based child-care space in 2010: 21.8 per cent (up from 14.9 per cent in 2001).

Province with the highest share of regulated spaces: P.E.I., 41.6 per cent.

In 2010 there were regulated child care spaces for 21.8 per cent of Canada's children under six years old. (iStock)

Province with the lowest share of regulated spaces: Saskatchewan, 10.5 per cent.

Per cent of children under six from poorest quartile of families who do not participate in out-of-home daycare: 65 per cent.

Per cent of children under six from the most affluent families who do not participate in out-of-home daycare: 30 per cent, according to a 2011 study by the Margaret and Wallace McCain Family Foundation.